


Hope in the Darkness

by meridian_rose (meridianrose)



Category: Firefly
Genre: Character Study, Community: 100fandoms-dw, Community: landsofmagic, Gen, Hope, Madness, Other characters mentioned - Freeform, Psychic Abilities, Sibling Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-04
Updated: 2019-03-04
Packaged: 2019-11-09 06:22:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17996573
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/meridianrose/pseuds/meridian_rose
Summary: River isn't truly mad, is she? River reflects on what has been done to her and her hope for the future with her devoted brother and a surprisingly welcoming crew. For the landsofmagic March Madness challenge and the Dreamwidth 100fandoms prompt "hope"





	Hope in the Darkness

River isn't crazy, not as most would understand it, though it seems that way.

It's just that she's seen beyond what humans usually can or should see.  
(Perhaps that is insanity of a sort.)

In awakening her new psychic abilities the scientists have opened her mind beyond its limits.  
Everything is within and without, endless and terrifying. Too much to handle.

It's all she can do sometimes to blurt out pertinent facts, blunt declarations that scare people. Though Simon doesn't scare, just gets sad.  
Simon isn't afraid. Simon will help her. Simon will find a way to let her take control once more.

She'll never be the same, but she will one day be able to use her talents rather than be used and abused by them. No more raving about possibilities but clearly articulating the potential futures.

She knows this because she's glimpsed it, in the darkness of pain and terror that sometimes overwhelms her, a bright spark of hope.

(Is hope insanity? Perhaps sometimes. But she clings to it like a life raft.)

Despite it all, she sees the same hope in Simon's eyes, kept alive by his love and determination.  
She sees hope in Mal, as damaged as she is in many ways, but still flying.  
She sees hope in Kaylee, who constantly strives to do more and who is compassionate beyond what might be expected of the engineer to a bunch of smugglers.  
She sees hope in Book, with his own haunted past and quest for redemption.  
She sees and feels hope in Serenity, the ship a beacon of light amongst the black, a home for the disparate crew, a vessel that may play a part in the shape of things to come.

She can't explain all this but she sees it, feels it, knows it.


End file.
